


The Return

by ohmyfae



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Selkie AU, but consent is respected by these nerds so don't worry, fake relationship to real relationship, some references to the less wholesome aspects of selkie myth, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-07 13:28:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11059947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyfae/pseuds/ohmyfae
Summary: A fill for the kinkmeme:Gladio, a hunter with too much to prove, finally strikes on something big: The pelt of a seal left on the beach for anyone to find. He sells it for quick cash, and wakes up later that night to find Noctis, a pissed-off selkie, asking what the hell he did with hisskin.Turns out that picking up the seal pelt means that Gladio and Noct are, according to selkie law, technically married. So they go off on a road trip to recover Noct's skin, annul their marriage, and maybe, purely by accident, fall in love.





	1. Chapter 1

_Naked, he came to him; With eyes like a banked fire, blunt fingernails caked with the coarse sand of the beach. The water that surged at his waist pulled him closer to the narrow shelf of the sandbar—Beyond it, the world plunged into the limitless dark of the ocean. He lurched forward, and the tears that struck the crest of the wave that bore him high were lost in froth and foam._

_Naked, he came to him. A gift. A sacrifice._

_Gladiolus Amicitia took one desperate, painful gasp of air, and the sea swallowed him._

 

**Cape Caem, Eight Months Earlier:**

 

"I'll be damned! If it isn't Gladiolus Amicitia, the king of Hunters!"

Gladio paused at the doorway of Dave's Bar and Grill, one hand clenched on the frame, the other resting on his travel bag. He'd avoided visiting Dave's for months—And not only because he couldn't even afford a glass of tap-water those days. No, he avoided the bar, most bars, because of people like _fucking_ Dino. Dino, the part-time journalist and gem hunter, who had cornered Gladio on one of his good days and plied him with drinks until Gladio had, with very little provocation, stood on the table of Cindy's outdoor patio and declared himself to be the future pioneer of Lucian Hunters.

He leveled a dark scowl Dino's way, and the young man smiled.

"Back from taking out one of your legendary monsters, yeah?" Dino asked. "Lemme guess, my man. A jabberwock? A zu? Hell, maybe the Titan? Sounds up your alley."

Behind the counter, Dave cast Gladio a sympathetic look. "Came here to drink or trade, boy?"

"Both," Gladio said, pointedly avoiding Dino's curious smirk. "Still have that room out back?"

His fingers flexed over the zipper of his bag. Dave glanced at it, shrugged, and waved Gladio behind the bar. 

He ignored Dino as he passed, and barely restrained himself from kicking the blonde's stool over. He had a feeling he wasn't the first to suppress the urge. When he slipped into the small, musty back room where trades between Hunters went down, he carefully turned the lock.

"What've you got, then?" Dave asked. He leaned against the wall, watching Gladio warily. "If it's voretooth spines again, I'm gonna have to pass. I'm up to my neck in those."

"Nothing like that," Gladio said. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a slippery animal skin that seemed to gleam in the dim overhead light. It felt like silk in his fingers, and the dark grey and spotted white was just as stunning as it had been when Gladio found it.

Dave leaned down to examine the perfect, unmarked sealskin on the table.

"Ain't never seen a skinning so clean," he said, in a quiet voice.

"Neither have I," Gladio said. The skin on the table had been found tossed on the rocks by the lighthouse, a misshapen lump that Gladio wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't nearly tripped over it. Now that he saw it laid out before him, with Dave tracing his fingers over the surface, Gladio felt an irrational desire to stuff it back in his bag and run. He could keep it for himself, just for a while, one precious thing in a life where beauty was a luxury. But beauty couldn't sustain him, and so he stayed still, hands locked behind his back.

"I can give you twelve hundred for it," Dave said.

"Fifteen."

"Thirteen-fifty."

"Deal," Gladio said, and took Dave's hand in his. Then Dave gingerly placed the sealskin in a box, counted out the money in Gladio's hand, and it was done. Gladio turned his back on the room, and felt the paper of his new fortune in his pockets, real enough to burn.

Later that night, he bought Dino a whiskey on the rocks just to see the man squirm. Then he'd ordered two more for himself, staggered back to his camp by the beach, and collapsed in a bedroll made warmer with the heady taste of victory. 

Finally, after years of fighting tooth and nail just to scrape by, Gladio's luck was starting to turn.

He woke to the smell of the sea.

Mind still humming with the after-effects of the liquor, Gladio took a minute to realize that the water dripping onto his legs wasn't coming from the spray of the surf. He flipped on his pocket light, and a pale blur in the center of his vision slowly swam into focus, making Gladio curse and scramble for his knife.

Before him, crouching naked at the door of his tent, was the most beautiful man Gladio had ever seen.

His hips were narrow and bony, sure, and his arms, while wiry with hidden muscle, we're just short of gangly, but there was something compelling about the way the man held himself. He seemed arrested in the midst of a slow, fluid movement, his body poised like a dancer's. Dark hair dripped over high cheekbones and a rounded chin, and his eyes were bright, sharp, and blue as the mid-morning sky over Caem.

"The hell," the man said, in a voice that shook with terrible rage, "did you do with my _skin?"_


	2. Chapter 2

Gladio wasn't sober enough for this.

Not for the sight of a naked man crouching before the dark mouth of his tent, glaring down at him with the promise of murder in his eyes. His damp hair dripped saltwater onto the floor, and his feet were coated in sand. When he dropped one knee onto the worn bedroll and loomed over him, Gladio's fingers closed over the hilt of a hunting knife.

"I asked you a question," the man said. "What did you do with my skin?"

"Your skin's fine," Gladio said, angling the knife between them. The man eyed it warily. "Obviously."

"What? Of course it isn't--" the man looked down, as though realizing his lack of clothes for the first time. "Oh. A _joke."_

"Look," Gladio said, trying to sound soothing. "Maybe you should go home, huh? Get some sleep, check for your, uh, your skin in the morning."

"Oh, I'd love to go home." The man practically snarled the words. "Going home would be _great._ But I _can't_ until you give me back my _skin."_ Gladio flicked his gaze up and down the man's body, and he growled. "Not this one. The one you stole."

Gladio struggled through the twin clouds of sleep and Dave's best whiskey, and squinted. "The sealskin?"

"I'm not a fucking _seal,"_ the man said.

"Yeah, I figured."

"I'm a selkie."

Gladio paused. He waited for time to fold back, for Dino to jump out from the dark with a garbled shout of _Got ya, sucker!_ and a cackle of vengeance. For the man to smile. None of it happened. 

He'd heard of selkies, of course. In a world where behemoths, Astrals, and daemons existed, it wasn't exactly a stretch to consider that weird-ass magical seal-people might be real. Everyone knew someone who knew a guy who heard of a man who married one: Usually, they were women, and the man in question would've found them sunbathing or singing or braiding their hair. He'd steal their pelts, and then, for reasons Gladio could never really understand, the selkie would marry him. They'd live together, have kids, even, and then one day, the woman inevitably stole her skin back and ran off into the ocean again, leaving them all behind. 

The guys who told the stories were so hung up over how beautiful the women were, but they never put much thought into why they always ran. 

"I thought you were all girls," Gladio said. The man scoffed.

"Oh, you wanted a _wife?_ Typical."

"No." Gladio sat up, lowering the knife a fraction. "I don't want a wife. I just saw the skin, and thought it came off an animal... Why'd you leave it lying around in the first place?" 

The man rolled his eyes and sat back on his heels. 

"I don't know, maybe because I didn't think there was anyone sick enough to look at it and go, _Aw, yeah, skin! Just what I always fucking wanted!"_ Gladio waited, and he groaned. "Okay, so I fell asleep. Whatever."

Gladio put down the knife and rubbed his hands over his face. "Fine," the man said. "I can tell it was a mistake. So all you have to do is give me my skin back, and I can head home and we'll never see each other again. Right?"

Gladio scruffed back his hair.

_"Right?"_

"Might've sold it," Gladio said. The man's conciliatory smile froze. 

"You... You what?"

"Sold it. Last night, at Dave's."

If he thought the man looked furious before, that was nothing on the look in his eyes now. "You sold my skin. Do you even... Do you know what it _means_ to take the skin of a selkie?" He dropped forward, but his attempt to loom over Gladio was offset by the fact that he had to be shorter than him by at least a foot. "It means, according to our laws, we're married. I can't go home, I can't go more than a few leagues from you without _dying,_ and if something happens to my skin? If it gets cut up, or damaged, or whatever? It doesn't matter if you give it back to me, because I'll never get to go home again. And that'll be on you."

"But... If I sold it, does that mean you're married to Dave, now?"

"No." The man braced himself on either side of Gladio's thighs. "You didn't say the right words, probably. Trust me, _husband,"_ he spat, "I'm all yours."

 

\---

 

Dave, who lived on the second floor of his bar and tended to keep a shotgun at the door in case of irate hangers-on, looked none too happy with the prospect of being woken two hours after closing time.

"If the bar ain't on fire, save it til tomorrow," he said, peering out the door with a scowl. 

Gladio felt the selkie shift behind him. The man had objected to putting on clothes, as he viewed them as poor substitutes for his real skin, but Gladio had managed to convince him to throw on an old tank top and sweatpants. They were laughably large on his slender frame, and the man had to hold the pants up with one hand so as not to flash the entire Cape.

"I need to buy that skin back," Gladio said. "Turns out it was stolen. Can't have black market goods coming out of your place, right?"

Dave yawned. "Shit, son," he said. "Coulda told me earlier. I sold that thing off to a man goin' for Lestallum just before closing time."

The selkie squawked in indignant outrage. "What the fuck is a Lestallum?"

Dave craned his neck to look over Gladio's shoulder. "Who's the pretty-boy?" he asked.

"No one," Gladio said, quickly.

"Noct. Noctis Lucis Caelum," said the selkie. "Actually, wait, what's your name?" He nudged Gladio's shin with a bare foot.

"Gladiolus Amicitia," Gladio said, in a low voice.

"Right. So I'm Noctis Lucis _Amicitia,"_ he said. The sarcasm in his voice was thick enough to cut through. Dave raised both eyebrows high.

"Hell, Gladio, how drunk did you get?"

"You got a name for the buyer?" Gladio asked. Behind him, he could hear the faintest sound of a vindictive laugh. 

Dave kept looking from Gladio to Noctis, but he wrote down what he knew of the man who bought the skin and handed it over. No name, but there was a description, at least. Gladio pocketed the note, thanked him, and turned to go.

"I guess we're going to Lestallum," he said, as Noctis tripped down the stairs at his side. 

"How far is that?" Noctis asked. "Is it some kind of... village? You people still have villages?"

"Close," Gladio said. He flipped on his phone. "An hour to sunrise. If we pack up now, we can be on the road by dawn. Might even catch this buyer on the way." 

Noct kicked off the sweatpants as they reached the haven on the beach, and ignored Gladio's sigh. "So we're actually going?" he asked.

"Well, sure." Gladio picked the pants up off the sand. "What, did you think I was gonna keep you trapped like some kind of monster?"

Noct said nothing. 

"Yeah, well, I ain't that kinda guy," Gladio said. "Call me sentimental, but I always thought when I got married, it would happen 'cause everyone _wanted_ it to."

"A human who doesn't want a selkie for a mate," Noct said. "Well. You might be a dumbass, but at least you aren't an asshole."

"Hey, watch it with the sweet-talk."

Noct laughed, and Gladio turned from the tent to give him a tentative smile. Sure, it was a mess, probably the biggest mess Gladio'd landed in his entire life. But Lestallum wasn't far. All they had to do was catch up, track down the buyer, and Noctis would be home free while Gladio had a hell of a story to tell. It could be all over and done with by sunset, if they were lucky.

It didn't occur to Gladio, as he showed an uninterested Noctis how to break down the tent, that luck had never been on his side.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is bullshit," Noct said. He sat hunched over in the passenger's side of Gladio's ancient truck, rubbing his toes. "I can't believe you do this to yourself."

"They're just sandals," Gladio said. Noctis muttered under his breath and kicked the offending shoes under the glove compartment. They'd stopped at a road-side stand for a pair of used, black capris that wouldn't fall off Noct's hips, underwear Noct treated as an elaborate joke, and the softest sandals Gladio could find. It was no use. Noct kept falling over on his way to the truck, and his toes and heels were raw and pink. He kept touching his legs and chest as well, readjusting his clothes and scowling at Gladio every time they so much as wrinkled. 

"You'll have to wear them when we go outside," Gladio said. "People leave too much shit on the ground to go barefoot." He caught Noct's look of horror out of the corner of his eye. "Not... I was being metaphorical. Mostly."

"Okay, gross."

"That's Lestallum," Gladio said. "My little sister goes to school there, actually. Got into a STEM program on scholarship and everything." Noctis blinked. "Like... science. Engineering. You guys have scientists, right?"

"Nah, we just roll around on the beach and scream at each other." Noct lifted his feet on the dashboard. "Yeah, we have scientists. I mean, it's mostly what you people would call magic, 'cause you're like, five hundred years behind everyone else..."

"Says the guy who doesn't wear clothes?"

"Not _my_ fault you guys have to compensate for being skinless," Noct said. He tapped the roof of the truck. "At least you make up for how slow you are on foot."

Gladio winked and pressed his foot on the gas. Noct let out a small whoop as the truck sped up, wind whistling through the open window. His bright eyes watched the trees rolling past, and he stuck a hand out into the rush of air.

"It's like a current!" he shouted. He was smiling, and Gladio caught the flash of sharp incisors, just a little longer than was strictly normal. 

With Noct busy trying to shove half his body out the truck window, Gladio risked pulling out his phone. He hated to bother Iris, especially on a school day, but if they wanted to catch Dave's buyer in time, they needed all the help they could get.

"This is Iris Amicitia! If you're Holly, Julia, Dr. Sania or Quincy, I'm probably at the cafe. If this is Gladdy or Dad, I'm totally in class and definitely not using book money for coffee. Love you!"

Gladio sighed and left a message, explaining that something of his had been accidentally sold to someone matching the description in his note, and if Iris could check the market for him, he'd owe her for life.

He didn't mention Noctis. He was pretty sure how Iris would react, and didn't want Noct to be suffocated by an overly enthusiastic mad scientist in the making. Besides, if she found out her brother had been accidentally _hitched?_ He'd never live it down.

"Hey, I know what that is," Noct said, when Gladio hung up. "It's a... talking thing. A phone." He grabbed it out of Gladio's hands. "Never saw one that worked before."

"A please would be nice," Gladio said.

"Why? You didn't ask when you took my skin. Anyways, we're married. What's yours is mine, my place is your place, whatever." He pressed the home button and his eyes widened. "What's this do?" 

Loud acoustic guitar music blasted from the speakers, and Noct dropped the phone. It went skittering into the dark with the hated sandals, and Noct gave Gladio a not very apologetic smile before ducking down to retrieve it. 

_Your beauty is beyond compare, a woman's voice called out, with flaming locks of auburn hair—_

"You can turn it off, now!" Gladio shouted. Noct twisted to get back into his seat.

"How? Who is this?" Noct shouted into the phone. "Power off! Deactivate!" 

_Your voice is soft like summer rain  
And I cannot compete with you, Jo—_

Gladio grabbed the phone and frantically pressed _pause._ Noct stared at him, grinning wide, and ran his tongue over too-sharp teeth.

"So, _husband,"_ he said. "You're a romantic?"

"What? A guy ain't allowed to like the classics?" Gladio tucked his phone into the driver's side cup holder, out of Noct's reach. 

"Hey, I'm not judging." 

Gladio groaned and turned on the radio instead. He showed Noct how to operate it, and Noct, after complaining that he had to use a dial, set to trying to find a station he liked. He settled for something with too much electric guitar and poorly-played piano, and listened attentively for a solid hour.

They stopped at Old Lestallum to pick up lunch to go, and Noct took the opportunity to try and practice walking in shoes. Gladio saw him through the dusty window of the Crow's Nest diner, cursing and tripping over his own feet to the amusement of the man selling weapons out of a van nearby. 

"At least I know we're heading in the right direction," Gladio told him, when he came back with a box of fish and fries for Noct and a set of skewers for himself. "The guy at the diner says he saw the man we're looking for just an hour ago, heading for Lestallum."

"Shit!" Noct fell onto the seat and scrabbled back into the truck. "The hell are we hanging around for?" 

Gladio waited until he was sitting mostly upright before handing him his food, and then trundled the old truck out of the parking lot. 

Whatever Noct had to say about how advanced selkie culture was, one thing they hadn't cornered the market on was table manners. It was almost fascinating, but about five minutes of listening to him rend flesh with his teeth, suck juices off his fingers, and swallow greasy fish down like he hadn't eaten in weeks, Gladio's own appetite had disappeared for good. He mutely handed Noct a pile of napkins and tried to keep his eyes on the road.

Gladio genuinely liked Lestallum. He loved how the whole place came alive at night, the way everyone waved in greeting, the 24-hour noodle stands and the small backstreet bars that gave discounts to Hunters. If he had the choice, he'd probably live there full-time. He parked in a rare free space near the lookout, breathed in the scent of spices, exhaust and dirt, and peeled off his jacket. Noct perked up at that.

"We don't need clothes here?" he asked, already tearing off his tanktop. His hands flew to his pants, and Gladio nearly choked.

"No," he said. "Pants stay on. Please." 

Noct gave him a dubious look, and hurried to match his stride as they headed up the stairs. If his sandals hurt, he took care not to show it. 

First, they went round to the back alley shops. No one there had seen the man they were looking for, nor had they come across any animal hides. One man pulled out a garula skin, and Noct almost told him off for daring to assume that something of his could be mistaken for _that._ Then they scouted the upper part of the city. Noct was starting to slow down by then, wincing every few steps, and every offer Gladio made to lend a hand was met with a glare and the assurance that _I don't need your help, darling._

"I don't know, _sweetheart,"_ Gladio said, at last. "Maybe you're just being a stubborn brat."

"Maybe _you_ need to shut up and look for our guy, _precious."_

"Gladdy!" 

Both of them turned to the source of the excited shouting to find Iris bouncing on her toes at the edge of the main market. She waved her arm in a wide arc, and her dark dress swirled around her knees as she ran to meet them. Gladio crouched down and caught her, lifting her up in a crushing embrace. 

"Fuck, you're tall," he said, and Iris smacked him lightly on the side of the head. "How's school?"

"It's okay. I got your message—Oh my gods, Gladdy, put me down!" She giggled as Gladio set her down gently, and looked at Noct. "Oh. Who's your friend?"

Noct smiled, and Gladio felt a weight drop through his stomach. "You're Gladio's sister, yeah?" 

"Unfortunately," Iris said. "I'm Iris." She held out her hand, and Noct took it somberly.

"Noct," he said, and Iris smiled. "But I guess you can call me brother."

Iris’ hand went limp. Around them, the afternoon market crowd chattered and shuffled about, an incoherent mess of sound, and smoke from food trucks drifted in the warm breeze.

"What?" she squeaked.

Gladio nudged Noctis with an elbow and forced out a terrible laugh. "It's a joke, Iris."

"Wow, way to insult our sham of a marriage," Noct said, looking to Gladio with mock hurt in his eyes. Iris released his hand, leaning back against the wall. She fanned her face with both hands and let out a gusty sigh.

"You almost had me going for a second," she said. "I thought Gladdy landed himself in trouble."

"Oh, no, he'd never do that," Noct said, deadpan. 

"So you said you got my message," Gladio said, before Noct and Iris could send his life into an awkward shame spiral from which he'd never return. Iris stopped fanning herself and dug into her skirt pocket for a phone.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "You were looking for the cactuar guy." She beamed up at their confused expressions. "That's what everyone calls him, because he sells those cactuar figurines by the food stand. I can show you to his table, if you want."

Noct grabbed Iris by the shoulders. 

"Iris," he said, and Iris flushed a deep, brilliant scarlet. "There's nothing I'd want more."

The cactuar guy matched Dave's description word-perfect: He was a middle-aged man with dark brown hair, thick rimmed glasses, and a nose that had been broken at least twice over. He sat at a fold-out table covered in figurines, and his smile was jagged with missing teeth.

"How can I help you boys?" he asked.

"You have a sealskin," Noct said, leaning forward on the table. The man sucked air through his teeth and clicked his tongue.

"Seal? Thought that was a shark."

"A..." Noct pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why would you... Okay. Okay, that's fine. Can I have it?"

"Reckon you can have lots of things, boy," the man said, taking out a packet of cigarettes from under the table. "But that skin ain't one of 'em. Sold it to a kid from Hammerhead an hour ago. Said he was gonna hang it up on the wall at the garage or somethin."

Noct looked almost apoplectic. Gladio stepped in, trying on his best bargaining smile. 

"That guy give you a name?" he asked. "Hate to break the news to you, but that skin was stolen property. Dave's on the lookout, you know."

The cactuar guy's lazy demeanor vanished, quick as a light turning off. "Hell, really?" Gladio nodded. "Alright, let me get my books. You ain't reporting this to the authorities, are ya? I run a clean business."

Noct snorted derisively. "Sure," Gladio said. The man pulled out his ledger and flipped over a page with trembling fingers.

"Got it," he said. "Sold for seventeen hundred gil to Prompto Argentum. That any help to you boys?"

"No," Noct said, as Gladio said, "Yeah." 

"This ain't gonna trace back to me, is it?" the man asked, but Noct was already gone, hobbling off towards the exit. Gladio made after him, but not fast enough—There was a resounding crash from a side alley, and Gladio rounded the corner to find Noct standing on one foot, with a metal trash can rolling away down the steps behind him.

"Gladdy?" Iris appeared at Gladio's elbow. "Is your friend... Is he okay?"

"Probably not," Gladio admitted. "Sorry Iris. I'll come visit properly when it's all over."

Iris hovered for a moment, then stepped into the alley and touched Noct's shoulder. He flinched away.

"Sorry," she said. "I just... I hope you find it."

"Thanks," Noct mumbled, but he kept his head down, and Iris backed off, looking lost. She gave Gladio a quick, awkward hug and left them alone, standing at the entrance of an alley carpeted with trash.

"Hey," Gladio said. "We have a name and a place, and we know it ain't gonna be damaged or sold. It's almost over."

"It should've been over back there!" Noct said. He set his foot down, winced, and gingerly wobbled into the main street. "It should've been over at the beach! If you didn't—If you weren't so—"

"I know. I'm sorry." Gladio stepped closer. "Come on. Can't make it to Hammerhead before sunset at this point. Might as well head in."

Noct closed his eyes and took a long, shuddering breath. 

"Alright," he said.

"That's my buttercup," Gladio said, and Noct let out a cry of disgust.

"Oh, that one was _insulting!"_ he pushed Gladio's shoulder, and Gladio smirked. "No, don't laugh! You should be ashamed!" 

By the time they made it to the caravan at the edge of the lookout, Gladio had been dubbed "Boopsie," Noct was "Starshine," and the two of them were laughing so hard that they had to collapse on the steps to catch their breath. 

"You can take the shower first," Gladio said, when he managed to heave the foldout bed down. "Gettin' kind of rank, princess."

"Thanks," Noct said. He disappeared into the bathroom. "Oh, hey, it's a tub!" There was some muffled shrieking as he discovered the hot and cold water taps by degrees, but soon enough the entire caravan was filled with steam. Gladio made himself a bowl of instant noodles, saving the second one for when Noct got out of the bath. 

An hour passed. Then another. There was the sound of a drain being pulled, then the roar of water refilling the tub. 

At the end of the third hour, Gladio knocked on the door.

"Hey," he said. "I have your, uh..."

There was a sloshing sound, and short, broken gasping. Gladio had left home to be a hunter early, but he'd pretty much raised Iris, and knew what it sounded like when someone was trying not to cry. 

_And some men do this on purpose,_ Gladio realized. He thought of all the stories, all the shocked endings of, _And then she went and left the poor man behind!_ and bit down the desire to break something. Instead, he twisted the handle, and the creak of the door made Noct go quiet. 

"You need anything?" he asked.

It was a foolish thing to say. Of course he knew what Noct needed. There was another swish of water, and the groan of pipes. 

"You can come in if you want," Noct said, in a low voice. Gladio pushed the door open.

Noct was still in the tub. He'd dragged a towel over himself and was running his fingers along the edge of it, over and over, staring into the reflective metal of the faucet.

Gladio sat down next to the tub, facing Noct. They stayed like that for a while, listening to the air conditioning rattle, both of them pretending that Gladio couldn't see the red in Noct's eyes, or his strained, measured breaths.

"You know why you don't really hear about us?" Noct asked. Gladio glanced up. "The men, I mean. When we're called out, we aren't really asked to stick around."

"What do you mean, _called?_ " 

Noct waved a hand. "It's a thing some of your women do. Well, mostly. When they're, you know, in a bad place, or their husband is an abusive shit, or they're in an arranged marriage with someone they don't want." He scraped a foot over the tile wall. "You can imagine how we feel about _that._ So yeah, they call us. With tears, or blood, and one of us shows up and we... I don't know, give them what they need."

"You don't _kill_ them?" Gladio asked. He found himself watching Noct's mouth, focusing on the sharp teeth that flashed as he spoke. 

"What? No, gods." Gladio sagged in relief. "We kill their husbands." 

Gladio didn't want to, but he found himself asking anyways, the way one itches at a scab best left alone. "Did you ever..."

"I haven't been called," Noct said, and a hint of bitterness crept into his voice. "Guess I'm an exception."

Gladio sat up and placed a hand on the lip of the tub. "I'll help you get home, Noct," he said. "I promise."

Noct slid his damp, wrinkled fingers over Gladio's. "Yeah," he said. "I believe you."


	4. Chapter 4

Having lived as a Hunter for the past five years, Gladio was used to waking early: Noctis, it seemed, was not. Gladio was up, showered, and dressed long before Noct so much as rolled over from his prone, facedown position on the bed, which he'd sprawled out in while Gladio took the narrow sofa on the other side of the caravan. He even slept through Gladio's attempt at making breakfast, and pressed his face to the mattress when Gladio tapped on the wall to wake him. 

"No," he moaned.

"Yes," Gladio said, merciless. "We need to be on the road an hour ago."

Noct moaned again, faintly, and rolled onto the floor. The moan rose in volume. 

"Yeah, you only have yourself to blame for that one," Gladio said. Noct's hands rose up from the other side of the fold-out bed, twisting into a shape Gladio didn't recognize. "What's that?"

"It means fuck yourself."

"Nice, I get to learn a new language."

Noct made the gesture again, and added a little flourish at the end. "That means fuck yourself, _asshole,"_ he said. 

Gladio rolled his eyes and started packing up while Noct, dragging himself up like he'd never used his legs before, staggered to the bathroom.

Noct climbed onto the bed of the truck on the way out of Lestallum, where he yanked back the glass partition that Gladio swore had been rusted shut for at least a year, and provided a running commentary on the diminishing landscape. The tunnel that showcased the Disc of Cauthess, he said, reminded him of the underwater Paths of the Goddess, where the high priestess and her retinue of warriors would weave their way through glass arches built by their ancestors, shedding and donning their mortal forms in complex patterns that were as much a dance as a way of fighting. 

The Disc itself, Noct said, was a little like the Crystal in the heart of their capital.

“Don’t know how it works,” he shouted, tipping his head back through the open partition, “but it powers most of the city. Does something to the… pressure, or whatever.”

“You have no clue what it does, do you?” Gladio shouted back. 

“Shut up, man. It’s gotta do something.”

Piece by piece, Gladio started to get an image of Noct’s life off-shore. He had a mother who terrified half the ocean, and a father who kept pushing him to do more with his life than drift along the coastline, picking up bits of sea glass and listening in on human beachgoers. Noct had a home, but remained rootless, aimless, unsure what to do or where to go. It reminded Gladio of his own decision to become a Hunter rather than take his father’s place in the town council back home, and by the time they stopped at a farm for a mesh bag of oranges and a basket of what Gladio was pretty sure was roasted duck, Noct had learned something of the shape of Gladio’s life, too. 

“Let’s stop for a sec,” Noct said, when Gladio tossed him the bag. “We got the time.” 

They parked next to an unused silo, where Noct threw bits of orange peel in an attempt to lure one of the farm’s resident chocobos closer to the truck. Gladio sat in the back with him, wincing at his terrible aim and taking his share of the duck before Noct decimated it. 

“So what’s the deal with your body-paint?” Noct asked. He nodded to Gladio’s tattoo, which went up both sleeves and covered most of his back. “A human thing, or just you?”

“Both,” Gladio said. “It’s a tradition in my family.” He twisted round so Noct could inspect it closer—He was so used to people asking that it was an automatic reaction. Noct hummed, and Gladio felt a shiver run over his skin as Noct lifted up the ends of his hair to get a closer look at his neck. Noct’s thumb pressed on the base of his skull, and Gladio was locked in place, frozen by the innocuous touch. 

“We get eagles like that, sometimes,” Noct said, letting his hand slip away. Gladio stopped himself from immediately rubbing the back of his neck. “Near the coast. Fits you, I think.”

“Watch out,” Gladio said. “That was almost a compliment.”

“You know me,” Noct told him, with a smirk. “I’m a natural.”

When Noct was done utterly wrecking a perfectly decent roast, he climbed into the passenger’s seat. He leaned his back against the door, resting his feet on Gladio’s side, and was out for the count before they were even on the main road to Hammerhead. With Noct snoring beside him, Gladio let the sound of the truck engine pull him into a daze. While he navigated the long stretch of road slicing through the desert, he saw dark water in the distance, glass arches and glowing crystals, and sleek bodies—sometimes human, sometimes animal, beautiful and deadly and strange—darting past like ghosts. 

 

Two hours later, Gladio's truck puttered to a stop in the Hammerhead garage and diner parking lot. 

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.” Gladio patted Noct’s feet, and the selkie groaned, curling in on himself. “Unless you _don’t_ want your skin back?”

Noct flailed as he tried to force himself awake, and Gladio shook his head, dropping to the baking concrete of Hammerhead. The massive, worn sign bearing the Hammerhead logo cast a shadow over the truck, but it wasn’t enough to offset the heat that sank into Gladio’s bones. 

“Where’s this Prompto guy?” Noct asked. His hair was mussed, half of it sticking up on one side, and his eyes were shadowy with sleep.

“Don’t know, but I know someone who should.” Gladio waved an arm. 

Cindy Aurum, the granddaughter of the owner of the Hammerhead garage and brains behind the operation, was leaning on a patio table with a clipboard full of paperwork. She looked up at the sound of their footsteps, and broke into the genuine, dazzling smile that had half the Hunters in Leide pining in heartsick misery. 

“If it ain’t Gladio,” she said, tucking her pencil behind her ear. “Haven’t seen you in ages. How you been?”

“Surviving,” Gladio said. 

“Getting hitched,” Noct added. He bared his teeth at Gladio’s wan expression. “What? We’ll be divorced in like, five minutes. Let me have this.”

“I see you and me are gonna have to sit down and have a talk,” Cindy said, with the look of a woman who was about to kick the Hammerhead rumor mill into full gear. “What can I do y’all for?”

“You ever seen a guy named Prompto Argentum?” he asked. 

“You bet,” she said. “He’s in the diner right now. So, what’s this I hear about y’all getting hi—Hey! Don’t leave a girl hangin!” She smacked her clipboard down on the table as Noct practically ran for the diner. Gladio gave her an apologetic grimace and trotted after him. 

Noct strode through the door of the diner with all the righteous fury of an avenging angel. “Prompto Argentum!” he shouted. The diner went deathly quiet. A young blonde man in the corner snorted soda up his nose. Noct rounded on him. 

“Uh.” Prompto—A gangly, broad-shouldered guy with dark freckles and too much hair gel—tried to mop up his spilled drink as Noct approached. “Y-yeah?”

“You have something of mine,” Noct said. “The seal pelt. The one you bought yesterday.”

Prompto’s face went an interesting shade of crimson, and Gladio felt a tickling sense of dread. “Oh. That. The cactuar guy said it was a shark, so I thought I’d give it to Cindy—“

“Cindy has it?” 

“Uh, not exactly.” Both Noct and Gladio exchanged pained looks. “She said no, so I sold it to Dino? The guy who hangs out in Galdin all the time?”

“Fucking _Dino,”_ Gladio growled. Of _course_ it would end up with him. Gladio had the luck of a twister in a house of mirrors. Noct groaned and spun on his heel, grabbing Gladio’s jacket collar with both hands. 

“I’m going to _kill_ someone,” Noct said. 

The Hunter behind the bar tapped the counter. “So long as y’all do it outside.”

“I’m… I’m really sorry, dude,” Prompto said. “Dino’s usually at the Quay for a while, he probably hasn’t gone anywhere…” 

That reminded Gladio of something else, something that had been weighing on him for the past two days. “And if this is Dino,” he said, looking into Noct’s blazing bright eyes. “We’ll need more money. He’s gonna take everything I have.”

Noct pressed his forehead to Gladio’s chest. Behind him, Prompto opened his mouth, shut it again, and shrugged his shoulders. 

“This means a lot to you, huh?” he asked. Noct lifted his head, and whatever his expression was as he turned to Prompto was enough to make the blonde go white.

“Goodbye, new camera,” Prompto muttered. He pulled out his wallet. “Um. Dino gave me seventeen hundred for it. You can…” He looked down at the gil in his hand as though it hurt to hold. “You can take it.”

Noct released Gladio's collar. “What?”

“Take it before I start crying, dude.” 

Noct wordlessly took the offered bills. Prompto watched them disappear into Noct’s pockets with a mournful sigh, and tried for a shaky smile. “Hope it works out for you,” he said. “Really.”

“Prompto Argentum?” Noct said. Prompto nodded. “I won’t forget. Alright?” He followed Gladio out of the diner, still looking a little dumbstruck, and ran his hand over the weight of the bills in his pocket. 

“That,” Gladio said, “was _not_ normal. Just so you know.”

“Kind of wish it was,” Noct murmured. He squared his shoulders. “So, I guess you’re my husband for another night.”

“Married life is definitely an experience,” Gladio said. “I got an idea you might like, though.”

“Yeah?” Noct walked in step with him, trying to match Gladio’s long strides.

Gladio dug his hands in his pockets. “Howabout when we’re done shaking Dino down for your skin, we dump him in the ocean and make him _swim_ back to Caem?”

“Oh, _darling,”_ Noct said, pressing a hand to his heart. “Now you’re speaking my language.”


	5. Chapter 5

The moment the blue line of the ocean came into view, Noct rolled down his window and sat up in his seat. His bright eyes were fixed on the sunlit expanse of the water, so fraught with yearning that Gladio felt his chest go tight in sympathy. Noct didn't even wait for Gladio to park the truck properly—He spilled out as they pulled into the lot, stumbling to his feet.

"Gods, I love this place," he said. Gladio laughed as Noct closed his eyes to the salt breeze. "The people here know how to appreciate the beach. Maybe 'cause it's so close to home."

"You live near here?" Gladio asked, as he locked up the truck. Noct's open face darkened for a moment, and he tugged at the back of his hair.

"Sort of. It's not really, uh..."

"Don't want humans poking around?" Gladio asked. Noct gave him a wry look. "Yeah, I get it. We're jerks."

"Some of you are okay," Noct said. He turned to Gladio then, and for a second, he wore the same open, delighted expression he reserved for the sea. "Let's go, lover."

"Lead the way, dear." Gladio gestured to the hotel perched over the water. "Our man usually stakes out the landing dock, because the head chef at the restaurant won't let him sit at the bar anymore."

"Nice." Noct walked close to him, bumping his shoulder against Gladio's upper arm. He kept his gaze locked on the ocean at all times, and if Gladio hadn't been watching _him,_ both of them would've missed the small, white cat sunbathing on the boardwalk. Gladio stopped Noct with a firm hand, and Noct looked down at the cat with a fond smile.

"Oh, you're beautiful," he said, crouching down. The cat rolled onto its side, and Noct ran his fingers over its soft fur. "Hey, buddy. Having fun?"

Gladio leaned on the rail, amused, as Noct plied the cat with praise. "Have a weak spot for cats, huh?"

"Sometimes people bring them on boats," Noct said. "And they're always on the docks at night. Dad used to get pissed at me for shedding my skin just to bring them fish, when I was little. But they're nice." He scratched the white cat behind the ears, earning a low, stuttering purr. "Better than most humans, anyway."

"A universal opinion, to be sure." 

Noct froze, and the cat, sensing his change in mood, rolled to its feet. Gladio turned to the sound of the voice and saw a tall, auburn-haired man in a grey and white jacket patterned with roses, standing over Noct with a grin.

"We in your way?" Gladio asked. Shit, how much had the guy heard? The stranger didn't even look at Gladio, focusing solely on Noct, who slowly rose from his crouch.

"I apologize," the man said. "I saw you there and had to add my two cents. Did you know," he added, adjusting the fit of his hat, which did little to tame his loose, silky hair, "that in ancient times, kings built shrines to their pets?"

"Huh," Noct said. He crowded up against the rail, leaning away from the stranger. 

"Again, my pardon for interrupting your _riveting_ conversation. I'm somewhat of a historian. I _collect_ history. Scraps of it, here and there." He took a step towards Noct, and Noct fell back. "Curiosities."

"That's great," Gladio said. He closed the gap between himself and Noct, and hooked their arms together. 

"Ah, well," the man said. "I won't keep you. The boat to Altissia departs shortly, and I am eager to be out at sea." He bowed, of all things, holding his hat steady with one hand. "If ever you find yourself in my fair city, do call upon me. The name is Ardyn. Ardyn Izunia." He flashed his easy smile once again, and strode past them, barely brushing Gladio's shoulder with his as he left. Gladio felt Noct shudder at his side.

"That guy reminds me of a _shark,"_ Noct said. 

Gladio peered over his shoulder at the man making his slow way to the boat at the dock, and nodded. "I think I know what you mean," he said. "Good thing all _we_ have to deal with is Dino."

The boat was leaving for Altissia, bearing the so-called historian with it, as Gladio and Noct passed through the hotel lounge and onto the dock. Waves from the wake of the boat rocked the floating dock between the lounge and the landing area, and Noct looked for a moment like he was about to lose his patience and jump into the sea then and there, with or without his sealskin. Gladio placed a steadying hand on his arm, and Noct tore his gaze from the water with considerable effort.

Dino was sitting at a covered waiting area, twisting a gem necklace in his hands. When he saw Gladio and Noct, his face lit up with malevolent glee.

"If it ain't my good friend Gladio," he said. 

"Not interested," Gladio said, shortly. Dino's face fell for half a second, but he rallied well. "We're here about some stolen goods you picked up earlier." He raised his voice so that the people sitting in the lounge could hear, and Dino glanced up, worry in his eyes.

"Yeah?"

Noct moved forward. "A sealskin," he said. "Bought from Prompto Argentum. You got it?"

Dino leaned back, crossing his legs. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't," he said. "Do me a favor, and we'll see if I can't jog my memory."

He lowered his eyelids halfway, looking up at Gladio with the air of a man who knew, no matter what game he played, he would always roll sixes.

Except selkies didn't know the rules. Noct growled, low but steadily rising, and the pitch struck a note in the part of Gladio's brain that switched on whenever he found himself facing a monster he didn't have a chance to kill. He stepped to the side, letting Noct pass, and the smaller man wrapped one hand around Dino's throat, the other clenching at the front of his silk shirt. 

"It's been a rough week," Noct said. Dino was lifted off the bench—he scrabbled at Noct's arms, but the muscle that bunched up under Noct's skin was like corded steel. 

"And I think," Noct continued, as Dino's feet scraped on the wooden planks of the dock, "that for once, I want things to go _my_ way. Don't you think that's fair? Moan for yes."

Dino's voice was cracked and keening in the late afternoon air. 

"Thought you'd be reasonable," Noct said. He dragged Dino to the edge of the dock, and lifted him over it. "So here's the deal. You're gonna tell us where my skin is, and I'm gonna think twice about holding you underwater until your memory comes back the _hard_ way. Yeah?" He let go of Dino's neck and held him by the shirt instead. Dino's feet thrashed in the water, kicking up a white froth.

"This guy's insane!" he croaked to Gladio.

"Hey," Gladio said. "Watch what you say about my husband."

Noct's lips pulled back, revealing long rows of sharp teeth. Dino stared at them in horror.

"Flatterer."

Dino gasped for breath. "Fine," he said. "Fine. I got that weird seal thing from a guy in Hammerhead."

"We know that," Noct said. Dino's shins sank into the waves. "Where is it now? In your bag?"

Dino's gaze flicked to the landing dock, and Noct tilted his head, catching Gladio's eye.

"You know," Noct said. "I think I know what he's gonna say."

"Probably just sold it," Gladio said, dryly.

"Less than an hour ago," Noct said. "To someone we _just_ missed."

"What a fucking coincidence." Gladio matched Noct's vicious grin with one of his own. Dino's eyes widened.

"Then what the hell are ya threatening me for?" Dino cried. "Just for kicks?"

"Probably," Noct conceded. "You got a name? For the buyer, I mean. I don't care about yours."

Dino closed his eyes as though in silent prayer. "That... That professor guy. Ardyn Izunia. Left for Altissia a few minutes ag—" his voice rose in a wail as Noct dropped him, and saltwater splashed over the dock. A few of the hotel staff glanced over the balcony at them, but when they saw Dino frantically paddling for the steps up to the landing dock, turned back to what they were doing. 

"Well," Noct said, turning to Gladio. "You ever wanted to go to Altissia?"

"Not really," Gladio said. Noct hooked his thumbs in his belt loops, leaning back in a truly impressive slouch. He looked like a lazy, scrawny young man again, but Gladio couldn't stop himself from examining the lines of his arms, wondering at the hidden strength that lay beneath. 

"It'll broaden your horizons," Noct said. "Think of it like... You guys have a word for when you go on a trip, after the wedding?"

"Honeymoon," Gladio said. Noct's eyes scrunched up in a true smile.

"Weird. I like it. Let's go, big guy."

But of course, hopping onto the next boat to Altissia and chasing Ardyn down wasn't going to be _easy._ The next boat wouldn't be ready to depart until morning, and Gladio was three hundred gil short of the cost of both tickets. So he took on a hunt at the nearby beach, close to a haven where they could camp without spending money they no longer had. 

When he asked Noct if he wanted to join him, the selkie raised his eyebrows. 

"Why?" he asked, archly. 

"I dunno. You lifted Dino off the ground like he was nothing, and you said selkies know how to fight."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean we like it," Noct pointed out. "I'm gonna catch us dinner. Have fun with your… giant crab hunt."

"Will do." Gladio watched as Noct walked towards the water, shedding clothes as he went. At last, he raced into the waves, diving into the clear water by the fishing dock. Gladio could barely see him; A pale, fast-moving shadow deep beneath the surface. He wished he could see him properly. He wished he could see what he looked like with his pelt on, the seamless shift from human to seal to human again, the wild edge to his smile made true.

It took him a moment to realize he was staring. Gladio shook out his limbs and hefted his broadsword, turning his back on the magnificent creature darting through the waves, and tried to banish him from his mind, leaving nothing but stillness and quiet for the hunt to come.

 

Noct came back to camp well after Gladio was done with his hunt, smelling like the sea and bearing a handful of fish that struggled weakly in his grip. Gladio gutted them while Noct half-heartedly set up the fire, and seared the filets with what was left of his spices.

They were midway through dinner before Gladio picked up on what was wrong. He turned to Noct. Noct sat hunched over his plate, watching the tide roll out as he carefully cut his fish into small pieces. He took delicate bites, and was so absorbed in watching the ebb and flow of the waves on the shore that he didn't notice Gladio's judgmental stare until it was too late.

"What?" He lifted his fork for another bite, paused, and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah."

Gladio waited in outraged silence.

"I didn't want to look too attractive," Noct said, not meeting Gladio's eyes. Gladio felt like he'd been kicked in the gut: Of course, that made too much sense, given what he'd been told. "Besides, not having to worry about eating right is kind of fun. And then you fell for it, so I thought, hey, let's see how far I can push it before you suspect something."

Gladio lowered his head in his hands. "I wasted so many napkins on you," he said. Noct laughed.

"Yeah, it was kind of adorable, really." 

"I want a divorce," Gladio said. Noct snorted and kicked him in the shin. 

"Tired of me already?" he asked. In the firelight, the blue of his eyes was almost violet. Gladio struggled to find the right response, but the words died on his tongue, and Noct's pale lips quirked.

"You're a strange one, for a human," he said. He shifted in his seat, propping his feet up on Gladio's knees. 

"Why do I think you're probably strange for a selkie?" Gladio asked.

"Beats me." Noct went back to his fish. "I'm normal as fuck."

Noct fell asleep in his chair before the fire had died down halfway, and Gladio carefully moved his feet and got up for more fuel. He scoped the edge of the beach, kicking apart dead brambles and dried-out driftwood, and stopped every now and then to check that the fire wasn't bending too far in the cool night breeze. 

A splash alerted Gladio to the shoreline. He turned, and the branches dropped from his arms and onto the hard-packed sand.

The man who emerged from the water could have been given a place in the statues of the kings that lined the waterways of Altissia. His shoulders were straight, lean arms toned with tension, every muscle outlined by the reflection of the moon on the water. His light brown hair was longer than Noct's, and he shook it out of his eyes as his bare feet stepped out onto the sand. A sealskin was draped around his shoulders like a cloak, and he held a long, curved knife, yellow-white as old bone, in one hand.

"Hey, Noct?" Gladio called. Noct stirred by the fire, but didn't respond. The newcomer turned green eyes to Gladio and raised his knife. 

"You," the man said. His voice wavered, and he straightened. "You will return Noctis to his rightful home tonight."

"Shit," Gladio whispered. "I'm trying to," he said, in a louder voice. "Noct—"

"You have no right to speak his name," the man said. The fire snapped, and Gladio twisted to the side as the man lunged for him, knife slicing through the air. Hell, he was fast. Gladio placed distance between them, wishing he'd gone for his own knife. A large blade wouldn't work against someone who could move so quickly into a defensive opening. He'd have to find a way to disarm him. 

There was a scrape of cloth on stone, and Noct's voice, thick with sleep, sounded above the hiss of the fire. "Ignis?"

"Highness." The man glanced his way, distracted, and Gladio ducked into range, twisting the hand that gripped the knife. The knife fell to the sand, and the man—Ignis—placed a hand on Gladio's throat and _squeezed._ Gladio gasped, spots blooming in his vision, and drew his knee up to connect with Ignis' abdomen. 

"What the fuck, guys!" 

"Highness, do not interfere!" Ignis applied pressure on Gladio's throat. "I know you may believe there's no avenue of escape, but there is more than one way to lose a husband."

Gladio tried to pry Ignis' hand free, but even his own strength was no match for the deceptive power of Noct's people. Blackness started to creep over Ignis' face, and Gladio tried to gasp for breath one more time before—

Ignis fell, eyes gone wide, grip loosening from Gladio's throat. Gladio felt fingers in his hair, and a slim hand spreading over his sternum, holding him in place.

"This one's _mine,_ Ignis," Noct snarled. 

There was a long, thoughtful silence. The rage that twisted Noct's features fell away into red-faced embarrassment as Ignis, picking himself up off the sand, stared at him as though he'd spoken in tongues.

"Not... not like that, I mean," Noct stammered. "I just... Don't kill him, okay?"

"Has he hurt you in some way, your highness?" Ignis asked. He lifted his hands to Noct's face, inspecting it. "Tortured you? Made you think—"

"No!" Noct flung himself back, releasing Gladio. "No, he's _helping_ me." 

"Highness?" Gladio asked. Noct's blush deepened, but before he could speak, Ignis turned his cold gaze to Gladio.

"His highness Noctis Lucis Caelum," Ignis said. "Heir to the throne of the Lucian sea."

 

\---

 

The fire was almost fully banked, but Gladio, sitting at the side of a selkie prince who he once called _sweet-cheeks_ and a warrior who might still want to kill him, found he had more pressing concerns on his mind. 

"We've been scouting the coast the past few days," Ignis was saying, running his fingers over the flat of his knife. "Your mother and father were livid when Lunafreya consulted her messengers and said your skin had been stolen. Of course, if I knew that the thief was a fool rather than a cold-blooded kidnapper, I would not have taken such drastic action."

"Excuse me?" Gladio said, bristling slightly. Ignis fixed him with a steely gaze.

"Not yet," he said.

"Calm down, Iggy," Noct said. He and Gladio had given Ignis a brief summary of the past few days, and the news that the skin had found its way into the hands of a collector—particularly one who wouldn't be likely to let such an artifact go—had not gone over well. Gladio insisted that he could lobby for it to be confiscated as stolen goods, but was overruled.

"Noctis can ill afford to be bound to the land," Ignis said, in a slow, patronizing tone. "He is the only child of their Majesties, and the time will come soon when he will be called by the Crystal to ascend the throne."

"Gods, Ignis," Noct muttered. "Don't remind me."

It was decided—with little input on Gladio or Noct's part—that Ignis would deploy a team of warriors to search for Ardyn's home and ensure that there would be a clear path for Noct and Gladio to take when they arrived. Gladio, to Ignis’ dismay, insisted on being there when the theft occurred, and Noct ignored Ignis’ not-so-subtle attempts at dissuading them from including a human in their affairs.

"But honestly, Noctis," Ignis said. "How many times have I warned you about going off on your own? Imagine, if you will, that this man is exactly the sort of brute he appears to be—"

"Hey," Noct said, before Gladio could protest. "Low blow, Iggy."

Ignis made a small gesture, and Noct removed his hand from Gladio's shoulder. Gladio wondered when he'd placed it there, and thought back to the fight on the beach. 

_This one's mine,_ he'd said. A slip of the tongue, maybe, but when Gladio looked down at Noct's hands clenching in his lap, he wasn't so sure.

"We're taking a boat to Altissia tomorrow," Gladio said, breaking the tense silence. "Still not too happy about breaking into this guy's house, but I swore I'd get Noct home. I won't back out now."

"And you'll want payment for your trouble," Ignis said, flippantly. He paused, taking in Gladio and Noct's shocked expressions. "Surely you do?"

"I never..." Gladio could feel Noct's stare. "I never thought about it. Doesn't seem right, when I'm the one who got him into this mess."

For once, Ignis had no response. He pressed his lips together tight, and both he and Noct jumped when a log in the fire broke in half and crashed into the embers, throwing off sparks.

"This is dangerous," he said, looking to Noct. "When you are yourself again, come home immediately. No... No long goodbyes."

Noct narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to—"

"I should go." Ignis rose in a graceful, fluid movement, and slipped the skin down from over his shoulders. He flapped it once over the knife, and a white shape emerged in the center of the skin, a perfect silhouette of the blade. When he draped the skin over his arm, the knife was nowhere to be seen. "There is much to arrange. I will see you tomorrow, Noctis, when you have returned to us."

"Yeah," Noct said, sounding oddly strained. "Sure thing."

Noct followed Ignis into the surf, stopping when they were chest-deep in the waves. They spoke for a moment, heads tilted close together, dark shapes against the moonlit waters. Then Noct stepped back, and Ignis swirled the skin in the air in a swift, circular motion. And then Ignis was gone, and Gladio saw only the flash of a flipper and the swirl of foam as the selkie disappeared into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning! Ardyn's home in Altissia is not exactly a fun place...

The boat to Altissia set off at dawn, churning the clear water and lurching off the landing dock with a groan of metal. Noct sat by the railing overlooking the starboard side, legs crossed beneath him, head drooping as his body fought the early hour. Gladio stood a few yards down, letting the cool wind shake an uneasy night from his mind. 

"Sit down," Noct said, in an exhausted drawl. "Don't wanna crane my neck to talk to you."

"That a command, your highness?" Gladio asked. Noct opened one eye, dark with reproof, and Gladio winked. 

"No jokes before noon," he said, and plopped his head on his arms. Gladio shifted over and sat next to him. Noct slipped his arms from the rail and collapsed on his side, resting his head on Gladio's thigh. "Wake me when we get there."

Gladio forced out a grunt of indignation. "I see how it is. Entire days I've dedicated to our fake marriage, and now I'm just a pillow to you."

"Shh," Noct mumbled. "Pillows don't talk."

Gladio laughed, low and silent in his chest, and placed a hand on Noct's hair. He realized his mistake and made to lift his hand up, but Noct sank just a fraction lower, lips curved in a smile. Gladio slid his fingers through Noct's dark, feathered hair, and the selkie leaned into the touch.

Dangerous, as Ignis had said. Gladio was starting to understand his meaning. He felt Noct drop into a true sleep at his side, and the world narrowed to the feel of his hair against Gladio's calloused fingers, the warmth of Noct's cheek on his thigh. Gladio watched the dark ocean fly past without truly seeing it, and felt the first stirring of something that rang uncomfortably close to loss.

He'd never minded being alone before.

"Maybe when I'm ready to quit this whole Hunting gig," he told the sleeping prince, "I'll buy that broken-down lighthouse keeper's shack off Cape Caem. Fix it up. Make it livable. I can run a trading center like Dave, maybe, learn how to fish. Keep a cat." 

The limitless stretch of sea broke apart as volcanic islands appeared at the horizon, and great cliffs of grey and green rose from the still surface. 

"I can set up a second room," Gladio continued. "Just in case. I know you'll probably want to stay underwater for the rest of your life, and I won't blame you, but it'll be there if you want it."

It sounded foolish as he said it. Noct would be a king someday. Visiting a man who happened to steal his skin by accident in their twenties wasn't high on a king's list of priorities. In truth, Gladio could see his future laid out before him clear as day: Years spent watching the water for a glimpse of movement, checking the beach for familiar footprints, week after week, year after year, until the past few days became a distant memory. Something weak and unreal, a fancy dreamed up from a mind desperate for something more than the next hunt. 

"Sounds nice," Noct said, in a thick voice. Gladio tensed, hand going still at the back of Noct's head. When Noct sank back into sleep, Gladio didn't speak again. Some things, he knew, were better left unsaid.

Noct woke as the boat turned down the long, narrow bridge that led to the city of Altissia proper, framed on either side by statues of old kings and queens of Eos. Noct examined them dully, propping his elbow on Gladio's lap, and pointed further down the bridge.

"Honor guard," he said. Gladio followed his gaze and spotted shadows underwater: Seals, grey and brown and white, heading down the bridge in a straight line that seemed too purposeful to belong to an ordinary creature. 

"This isn't really our territory," Noct said. He sat up, but leaned heavily on Gladio's side. "Belongs to the Leviathan, so we have to behave. Otherwise Ardyn would be sixty feet under and sinking by now."

"That's comforting," Gladio said. "Just 'cause he's in the way?"

Noct kept his gaze on the gates of the city. "You saw Ignis last night. People get... intense about our royal family."

"I figured."

The gates of Altissia opened for them, and Gladio's breath caught in his throat. It truly was an impressive sight: A city of artisans, every archway was carved with intricate scenes of life through Altissia's long history. Flowers bloomed on street corners and fountained up in massive piles by vendor's carts and stalls. Petals drifted in the breeze and swirled in eddies left behind as gondolas glided down the waterways.

Gladio sneezed.

"Romantic, yeah?" Noct asked a minute later, trying not to laugh as Gladio choked on pollen. He slapped Gladio on the back and swaggered down the landing platform, far more confident in his worn sandals than he'd been three days before.

Gladio found him at the custom's station, glassy-eyed and awkward as the agent asked, yet again, for an entrance visa.

"Hold up," Gladio said. He pulled out his Hunter's license and laid it on the counter. "That should do it."

The agent looked over the license as though it carried a rare, heretofore unknown disease. 

"Reason for visiting?" she asked. 

"Honeymoon," Gladio said, and Noct slung a hand onto his shoulder. 

"Yeah, we're madly in love," Noct said. They both glanced at each other, and the laughter in Noct's eyes made Gladio have to bite down on his cheek to keep from losing his own composure.

"Oh." The agent's expression changed from disapproval to bright-eyed, commercial cheer. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"We just did," Noct pointed out, but the agent wasn't paying attention. She leaned over the ticket counter and waved at the street beyond.

"Guess what, you all?" she shouted. "We have ourselves some lovebirds!"

"Oh gods," Gladio said.

"Fucking shit," said Noct.

They were engulfed in sound as a crowd of vendors, street performers, and tour guides descended on them, laughing and singing and giving them helpful advice on where to visit during their stay. Somehow, they both ended up with two flower crowns each: Noct's hung askew, sylleblossoms drooping at his ear, while Gladio's punk haircut was turned into a riot of pink and white. They got free tickets to a theater, for a night at the Leville, for free food and drink and gondola rides anywhere in the city.

Gladio dragged Noct out of the crowd before the selkie broke down and bit someone's throat out. They stopped, panting as though they'd run a mile, and took in each other's rumpled clothes, sticker-covered vouchers, and hair thick with flowers.

Noct laughed ‘til he cried.

They fell onto a bench to catch their breath, but every time they looked at each other, one of them would start up again. They were leaning close, panting for breath, when Ignis found them.

Ignis was dressed in a dark wool suit that fit him perfectly, though—like some others Gladio could see walking through the crowded streets—his feet were bare. He smiled as Noct lifted one of the flower crowns over his head, and adjusted the knife that was hooked in his belt. 

"I'm glad to see you're in good spirits," he said. "We have found the location of the man you seek. He has left his home: Our magic detected traces of his presence at the front door. We have our people placed on every street and waterway leading in or out to intercept him should he try to return."

"Oh," Noct said. "That's... thorough, Ignis."

"But of course. Are you ready?"

Noct shuffled through the pile of vouchers, and Ignis sighed. "I dunno, kind of wanted to try out the free shaved ice."

"We can get it afterwards," Gladio suggested. The look Ignis gave him then had an echo of the murderous intent of the night before.

"No, _we_ will do no such thing."

Noct rolled his eyes so hard it looked like it hurt. "Whatever you say, Iggy. Not like I'm the prince or anything." He stood, trailing flower petals. "Ready to steal my skin back, pumpkin?"

Gladio nodded, straight-faced and grim. "Anything you want, peaches."

Ignis groaned.

Ardyn Izunia's house was on a raised platform over the night market, sectioned off by a large gate inlaid with carvings of what Noct said were poor imitations of what mermaids were supposed to look like. Ignis waited there with the signal whistle to alert Noct and Gladio to Ardyn's arrival, and the two of them entered the house with little trouble: The lock was made for aesthetics more than function, and Gladio was able to kick it loose on the second try.

The inside of the house looked like a gallery. Large paintings in frames that probably cost more than Gladio's truck adorned dark paneled walls, flowers and ferns grew in vases that were probably hand-painted by some Altissian five hundred years ago, and the furniture was nice enough that Gladio half expected it to be roped off. Even though they knew they were alone, Gladio and Noct walked softly through the main entranceway, scanning the walls for anything resembling the skin. 

"He said he collects curiosities," Noct said, in a whisper. "Does this look curious to you?"

"Nah." Gladio looked to the stairs. "Maybe a study?" 

They poked through rooms that grew more and more cluttered with paintings and artifacts: Noct recognized a few, and stopped to point out bits of old selkie technology or weapons used by sirens or mermaids. The skin wasn't in any of those rooms, though, and Gladio was starting to feel uncertain, thrown off kilter. 

"This looks promising," Noct said. He stood before a door that was nearly covered up by a long, narrow painting of a harpy. He tugged at the handle, but it wouldn't budge. He looked around cautiously, and before Gladio could raise a hand in warning, braced a foot on the wall and tore out the handle, lock and all.

"That's one way to do it," Gladio said, and Noct pulled the door open.

They paused.

"Oh, shit," Noct said.

"Astrals."

They hovered at the doorway, Noct looking pale and slightly ill, Gladio with one hand placed gently on the selkie's back to steady him.

In the room beyond, there was a swish of liquid swirling in glass cases, the whir of a fan, the slow, dull creak of bones on wire.

"I guess." Noct shuddered, and ran a hand over a forehead gone clammy despite the cool, dry air. "I guess we found his study."

Gladio and Noctis stepped over the threshold, and found themselves in the company of a silent, unmoving audience.

Overhead, a delicate skeleton of a humanoid creature hung from wires that gently wrapped around bones hollow as a bird. The creature's wings were outstretched in an arrested flight, and Gladio stared up into the dark hollows of a skull that looked far too human.

"A harpy," Noct whispered. "Technically a daemon, but... Oh no. Oh fuck, I'm gonna be sick."

Noct backed into Gladio's chest, turning his face from a tall glass case filled with greenish, murky liquid. A tail spun slowly in the center, long and elegant and slightly bloated, with sharp spines jutting out at the base of the fin.

"Siren," Noct said, in a strangled voice. Gladio wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and Noct shivered. 

The other cases and displays were much the same. There was a box full of small, translucent wings, a jar of scales, bits and pieces of what looked to be various pelts and fins. There was an entire case dedicated to what Noct said was a mix of selkie and siren tech, and further in, beyond a set of bookcases, Gladio could see the warm light of a fireplace.

"It has to be in here," Noct said, running his hands over the books as they passed. "But... What kind of sick fuck would do this?"

"I find that to be entirely inappropriate," said a voice by the fire. Noct darted around the bookcases, but Gladio ran after him, grabbing him by the shoulder and flinging him back as they stumbled into a warm, brightly-lit office. 

Ardyn Izunia smiled, raised the heavy revolver in his left hand, and shot Gladio in the thigh. 

There was a thud as Gladio's bag fell from his shoulder.

"Pleased to see you again so soon," Ardyn said to Noct, as Gladio dropped to his knees. In his free hand, he held up the grey and white spotted sealskin that Gladio had found on the beach what felt like an eon ago. "Let us have a talk, just the three of us."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of violence in this chapter!

"I admit," Ardyn said, in a conversational tone. "I thought you would be here sooner. After I led your dear friends on a chase this morning, I feared you would have been gone by the time I doubled back. Through the cellars, of course," he added. 

Gladio's hands were slippery with blood, and his grey tank top had gone dark under his fingers as he pressed it over his wound. Noct tried to inch closer, but Ardyn tutted and ushered him back with a wave of the gun. 

"And don't assume they'll be coming to your aid," he said. "I keep my study soundproof. A personal preference."

Gladio thought of the display cases behind the bookshelves. "Yeah, I bet you do," he said. "The hell do you want?"

"I thought that would be obvious, my boy." Ardyn turned a hungry gaze to Noct. "Your dear husband."

Noct and Gladio both spoke at the same time, vicious, stinging curses merging together and falling short as Ardyn extended his right hand outward. The sealskin draped over his palm, dangling close to the fire that lit the room.

"Ah, there we go," he said. "Now I have your attention."

Gladio looked at the skin. He wasn't sure he could jump in time to grab it out of Ardyn's hands before the gun went off. Maybe if he had enough momentum, he could keep going long enough to pull it free—

And leave Noct alone with Ardyn. No, that wouldn't work. He had to think. Had to get past the gun.

"He isn't a part of this," Noct was saying. "Let him go."

Gladio looked up sharply. "Noct, the hell are you..."

Noct's chin was lifted high, eyes glittering with cold disdain. "I said, let him—"

"No," Ardyn said. "He's your... mate, I suppose. The bearer of this skin. He has a hand in this, I assure you."

Noct clenched his jaw.

"You could say that you and I share a common ancestry," Ardyn said to Noct, keeping a firm hold on the skin. "My own mother—A lovely woman, truly. So quick to smile. Had a beautiful singing voice. A little fey, perhaps, but kind. She was my father's steadfast companion for nearly a decade. And then I, in the foolish ignorance of youth, came across the sealskin my father kept locked in the attic." 

He cast his gaze over the walls, examining his horrible collection with pride. "I saw her, you know. Ran straight into the water, threw on her skin... and changed. You could say that I changed, too. To think that the love she bore for me and my father was tied to such a simple thing..." He glanced to the skin, then back at Noct. "I had to know more. How many of you were there? Were there others? Stranger, more powerful, ignored by the academic world in favor of daemon research?"

"Oh my gods, no one cares if your mother doesn't love you," Noct said, and stopped when Ardyn aimed the gun at Gladio's chest. "Alright, fine! Fine, we care!" 

"You certainly do," Ardyn said. "I wonder. Is it a compulsion? Part of the magic that binds you to your mate? Part of your _skin?"_

"Look, man, I didn't pay enough attention to—"

The bundle of sealskin edged closer to the fire, and both Gladio and Noct tensed. 

"I apologize," Ardyn said. "You were laboring under the misconception that I would be asking questions that I expect you to answer. No, I am more interested in the practical application of my research." 

He lifted the skin, and Gladio sighed even as he pressed down on the wound in his thigh. Blood was pooling onto the floor—too much, Gladio knew, too fast—and he could feel his focus slipping away. 

"Somewhere in this lies the secret to the selkies' unnaturally long life," Ardyn said. "To the ability to bind a soul to another. To control their emotions, their loyalties. All I need, my dear," he added, smiling down at Noct, "is you. Have your husband pass ownership to me, and I promise, on my honor, that your skin will be returned to you as soon as my research is done."

Neither of them had to think hard to see that this was a lie. "Or," he said, "I can burn your skin, kill the both of you, and learn what I can from an autopsy. But I believe the first option is acceptable, don't you?"

Noct's gaze flicked from the blood on the floor to the skin dangling over the fire. "You want to know if I'll love you," he said. 

"Among other things."

"Well," Noct said. "I hate to break it to you, but—"

"He will."

Noct and Ardyn stared at Gladio, who had balled up his shirt and turned it around to soak up more of the blood. He fought to keep his face still, betraying nothing. "He'll love you. He won't have a choice."

Noct opened his mouth, and Gladio turned to him. _Lie,_ he thought. "Remember the first time you saw me? Thought you were gonna snap my neck, but you put your hands in my hair and you..."

Noct blinked. "But I wanted to," he said. His voice shook. Good, maybe Ardyn would mistake bad acting for fear.

Ardyn clucked. "Oh dear," he said. "So am I to take it that you'll hand him over?"

"If you let me live," Gladio said. "Sure."

"Hunters are so predictable," Ardyn lamented. "Not an ounce of romance in their soul. Very well. Prove it to me. Do it now." He lowered the skin closer to the fire.

Gladio lifted a bloodstained hand to Noct, who took it lightly. "I..." he scrambled for a phrase that would sound right. "Release you from your contract."

Only Gladio caught the gleam of wicked humor in Noct's eyes. All Ardyn saw was Noct recoiling, wrenching his hand from Gladio's. 

"The fuck did you..." Noct started to say. He took several long, slow breaths, and turned to Ardyn, whose grip tightened on the sealskin.

"It's done," Gladio said. The look Ardyn gave Noct was thick with want, with rage, with decades of bitterness and obsession coiled to one deadly, dangerous point. He waved him over with the gun.

"Come to me, my dear," he said. Noct walked jerkily towards him, treading through Gladio's blood, not sparing a glance as he passed. He stopped just within range of Ardyn's arms.

"May I?" he asked, raising his hands to Ardyn's chest. Ardyn chuckled.

"Naturally." 

Noct smiled and kissed Ardyn on the jaw, chaste and tender. The man was grinning in triumph, and opened his mouth to Noct as the selkie's hands carded through Ardyn's hair.

Noct's fingers twitched. There was a sickening crack as, with all the strength in his tense, wiry arms, Noct clutched Ardyn's head in an immovable grip and snapped his neck. 

The sealskin slipped from numb fingers. Gladio leapt, throwing himself between the flames and the pelt. He caught the silky folds of skin in both arms and fell to the warm stone of the hearth.

Noct kicked Ardyn's body aside and pulled at Gladio's shoulders with both hands, ignoring the skin that lay between them.

"Hold on, big guy," he said. Gladio could barely hear through the pain that roared through his body. "Hold on, I got this. I got this."

His vision went black in short bursts, like the electricity flickering off, and then Noct was crouching close, dripping sweat onto his neck and kneading at his shoulder. "Come on, Gladio. I know I suck at healing magic, but it's not... not that bad. Look me in the eyes."

Gladio squinted up at Noct. Was he _crying?_ His eyes were rubbed pink, and his cheeks were flushed and damp. Gladio lifted a hand to check, and felt the seal pelt slide around his fingers.

"It's gonna leave a scar," Noct was saying. "Right over the eagle. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what to do. Fuck. I don't—"

"Noct." Gladio rolled to his side, and was surprised to find that both the pain in his leg and back had lowered to a dull ache. "That ain't important right now."

"The fuck it isn't!" Noct said, and Gladio pressed the skin into Noct's flailing hands. The selkie stopped, his hands closing over the pelt. He took a breath. Another. Lifted the skin to his face and breathed it in. 

"Gladio," he said.

"Happy to be of service, your highness," Gladio told him. 

Noct lowered his hands and kissed him, deep and fierce and desperate. Gladio winced at the scrape of teeth at his lip, and tasted blood on his tongue. Noct licked over the cut, which would have been really fucking weird if it weren't also indescribably _good,_ the two of them frantic and hungry for touch on the blood-slick floor. 

Gladio was the first to pull away. "Maybe," he said, as Noct lowered his brows in confusion, "we should take this somewhere else."

Noct looked at the body lying on the floor and grimaced. "Oh. Yeah."

Gladio's head swam when he got to his feet, and he didn't think he'd be able to pick up the travel bag he'd dropped when Ardyn had first sent him to his knees. Noct shouldered it instead, and they hobbled out, trying not to look at the specimens that floated or hung about the room. 

"I know you said you didn't want a reward," Noct said, as they limped out of the study.

"I don't."

"But the way I see it..." Noct glanced around the room. "There's a lot of, you know, jewelry and stuff in the other rooms. Stuff I bet he kept just for himself."

Gladio caught the sly look in Noct's eye, and shook his head.

"If you insist," he said. 

They cleared out Ardyn's private jewelry cases, dumping a fortune of gold, gems, and ancient rings into Gladio's bag. Then, when they were done taking all they could carry over Noct's shoulder, they went back to the terrible study, poured oil from Ardyn's kitchen over the floor, and set the room on fire.

They slipped through the front gate of Ardyn's house just as smoke began to unfurl from the highest windows. Ignis stared at them in shock, taking in Gladio's bloodstained clothes and Noct's tight grip on his sealskin, and struggled for the words to too many questions to count. 

"Not right now," Noct said. There was the sound of breaking glass as a window blew out, and flame licked along the walls of the building. "I'll see you in a bit, but I gotta... Give me time."

"Of... Of course," Ignis said. Noct laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, then dragged Gladio off, down the dark streets and away from the thickening smell of smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so Ignis' plan was for them to get in, find the skin, and get out. How the plan actually ended up going: 
> 
> 1\. Get in  
> 2\. Oh gods what is that  
> 3\. Oh no everything is terrible and Gladio might be dying of blood loss  
> 4\. Kill Ardyn  
> 5\. Make out next to his body  
> 6\. Rob him  
> 7\. Set fire to his house.
> 
> Ignis will have a hell of a time explaining that to Regis and Aulea, later...


	8. Chapter 8

Noct led Gladio to the inn, where they cashed their voucher to a startled, anxious clerk who kept asking if Gladio needed help with, _Well... everything, sir._

"Nah, I've got that," Noct said. Gladio snorted, and they bumped shoulders on their way up the stairs. 

Alone in their suite, which had a large, rose-scented bed and a window overlooking the walls of water, Noct helped Gladio peel off his ruined clothes. Gladio examined the raised scar where the bullet had pierced him, and twisted his back to see long, webbed burns marring the tattoo along his right shoulder. 

"I can heal, sort of," Noct said, as Gladio rinsed off the blood on his legs. "It's something to do with the Crystal, and my family line. But I'm only really any good with things like bite marks or claws. We don't get a lot of fire and guns back home."

"I won't complain," Gladio said, stepping out of the shower, and the shadow of concern fell from Noct's eyes. When Gladio reached for his bag to get his clothes, Noct stopped him.

"Wait." He kissed him again, slower this time, and Gladio backed him out of the bathroom. They fell onto the edge of the bed, and Noct reached back to gather up his pelt.

"I wanna try something," he said.

"Anything for you," Gladio said, biting high on his neck. Noct let out a sharp breath and rolled to the floor, grinning. Gladio joined him.

Noct laid out his flawless sealskin on the floor behind Gladio, and practically climbed into his lap, kissing him soundly.

"When selkies marry, it's tradition to end the night like this," Noct said, pushing Gladio onto the pelt. The raw scars of his back shifted against it, and he looked up into eyes gone dark, a smile too gentle to stare at for long. 

"We aren't married anymore," he said. Noct shrugged, and Gladio pulled him down, drawing free a moan of yearning that almost matched his own. Noct pressed him to the floor, to the skin of his second self, and Gladio lost thought for anything but the beauty of his face, the slide of their bodies, the strength of their hands. 

He came to himself as they moved together towards the apex of their pleasure, and found that he was whispering, light and ragged, the words he'd held down for what felt like too long to bear.

"I don't want you to go," he said, as Noct rocked above him, mouth trailing over Gladio's chest, tracing the outline of his tattoo. "Please, Noct. Please, I don't know where I'll, what I'll do."

"It's okay," Noct said, his voice rumbling against Gladio's skin. But it wasn't. It never would be.

"I can't go back from this," Gladio said. He wanted to say more, to articulate why it was that his world had fallen over a precipice from the moment he'd laid hands on the skin. But when Noct drew back to kiss him once more, all heat and teeth and curving lips, he knew he didn't have to. 

 

They walked together to the dock behind the inn, after. The moon was waning from full, and the edge of the water flashed silver as it lapped against the stone canal. Gladio stood at the edge of the dock with Noctis, who was holding his skin in his arms like a rumpled blanket. 

They kissed, once.

Then Noct dove into the water, the sealskin twining about his shoulders. He shifted mid-air, and Gladio caught a glimpse of his seal-self as water crashed over the dock. He knelt at the edge of it, tracking Noct's movement as he leapt and circled and twisted in the water, and when he held his hand under the surface, he felt the smooth skin of the selkie glide under his fingers before falling away into the midnight blue of the canal. 

It was the best goodbye he could hope for. 

Gladio stood, slipped off his drenched shoes, and made his way back to the inn.

 

\---

 

When Gladio came back from Altissia with an armload of gil and ambitions to renovate the old shack on Cape Caem, his father, Clarus, drove up from Leide just to make sure he hadn't lost his gods-cursed mind. He found Gladio to be somewhat different from the man he's seen not a few months before: Quieter, perhaps, less quick to fall into the infamous Amicitia temper. Clarus ended up staying for two weeks, helping him fix the roof and add support beams for a second set of rooms. 

When pressed, Gladio said he'd found the renovation money through a high-paying hunt in Altissia. 

Iris knew better. When she came to visit, Gladio sat her down at his rickety kitchen table, spilled a bag of jewelry onto the knotted surface, and told her.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Iris asked, sobbing into her third cup of chocolate. "It's just... What if he doesn't know how you feel?"

"He knows," Gladio said. He hid the bag of jewelry in its safe box again, and went to refill Iris' mug. "But he'll be king one day. It's better like this."

"The heck it is!" Iris cried. Gladio stared at her. "Don't play all macho with _me,_ Gladdy. Dad says you kept going out to the beach every day. Like you're waiting for something." She got up and wrapped her arms around his middle. 

"You're my favorite brother," she said, and Gladio smiled at the old joke, "but you can be so _stupid_ sometimes. Isn't there a way you can call him?"

There was, but Gladio wasn't sure it would work. "No phones underwater, Iris."

Iris huffed and pushed Gladio out of the way, making him laugh.

Little by little, the house on the cliff of Cape Caem was completed. Gladio had some old friends over, now and then, and his father and sister visited more than once with thinly-veiled excuses and brows creased with worry, but on the whole, Gladio was alone. He watched the sea, and waited, and woke at night straining his ears for footsteps that never came.

In the end, Gladio went to the sea.

 

\---

 

_Naked, he came to him. A gift. A sacrifice._

_Gladiolus Amicitia took one desperate, painful gasp of air, and the sea swallowed him._

 

\---

 

At first, all Gladio saw was the deep water of the ocean, sending forth tendrils of darkness like the mouth of a cave. The waves above were a distant roar, and Gladio could feel the drag and push of the current overhead, fighting with the heavy, cool stillness of the water far below.

Then, as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, he saw him. A large, sinuous shape broke out of the hazy middle-ground, causing Gladio to turn with the force of his wake. Then there were hands, hands on his chest, on his back, pulling him out of the pocket of calm and into the open air.

"The fuck is your problem?" The voice was jagged, a little high, but so familiar that Gladio laughed at the sound of it. Noctis Lucis Caelum glared into his face and dragged him to shore, and Gladio, still laughing helplessly, did not resist. 

"You have any idea how dangerous that was?" Noct asked, straddling Gladio's waist. His sealskin was draped over his shoulders much in the same way as Ignis', and the ends of it brushed Gladio's chest and thighs. "There's a rip tide a few paces to the left, if I hadn't heard someone calling I would've—" He stopped, his face going slack.

"Gladio," he said. "Did you _call_ for me?"

"You said it worked with tears," Gladio said. His laughter had fallen over the edge to hysteria, and he couldn't seem to control himself. His eyes _burned,_ and his breath came out hitching and broken.

"But I was gonna come back," Noct said, voice low in bewilderment. "I just needed to talk to Mom and Dad. I wasn't... I wasn't leaving you for good..."

"Eight months is a long time for a human," Gladio said. 

"Eight months? Really? Oh my gods," Noct said. "I'm an _asshole."_

"Better you say it than me."

"Hey!" Noct leaned down and kissed him, digging his hands into the sand on either side of Gladio's head. "Hell, Gladio, I'm sorry. I won't be gone so long again. I mean it." He kissed his neck, then his shoulder, traveling down to the beak of the eagle tattoo. 

"Let's do it right this time."


	9. Chapter 9

The next time Iris and Clarus Amicitia visited Gladio, there was a man in his kitchen.

"Morning," he said, shaking dark hair from his eyes and extending a hand to Gladio's father. "You must be Clarus." Noctis, as Iris knew and Clarus learned, was staying at Gladio's off and on, whenever his work didn't call him away. He charmed Clarus with stories of deep sea fishing, and gave Iris a sly grin every time she giggled at his careful omissions regarding what line or tackle he used. When Gladio came down from where he was working in the attic, Clarus sat back at the sight of Noct twisting round to pull him into a kiss.

"Ah," Clarus said. "Now I see."

"Dad, no," Gladio said, and Noct, laughing, got up to fetch more drinks.

"He's nice," said Gladio’s father, watching Noct banging open cabinets in search of more coffee. "I expect he's the one who put you in that mood last year?"

"Dad," Gladio said, anguished, as Iris giggled like the traitor she was. Clarus shook his head.

"So long as you don't let love go to your head again," Clarus said, and smiled at Noct as he appeared with a handful of mugs.

"Don't worry about that," Noct said. "I'll keep him in line."

"Since when?" Gladio asked, and the look Noct gave him at that was scandalous enough to have Iris turn red and Clarus glance away into his coffee.

The more Noct visited Gladio at Caem, the more Gladio's notoriety grew. He would often find himself being watched from the waves as he walked the beach, and now and then Ignis would show up for tea and a chance to complain that Noct was being a stubborn ass again, _please, gods, say something._ The months leading up to Noct's coronation and the abdication of his parents was particularly rife with tension, and Noct once locked himself in Gladio's bathroom until Ignis ripped the door off its hinges by force.

Still, aside from the occasional visit from Ignis, the intimidating high priestess Lunafreya, or the former king and queen, selkies generally kept their distance from Gladio. Then, on an evening when Gladio was on his own, looking out over the water, he heard a discreet cough from below.

"Please," a selkie said, holding onto the dock with both arms. "It's my sister."

The selkie's sister had disappeared off the coast near Galdin, and she feared that her skin had been taken. Gladio listened to her story, wrote down the description of her sister on his phone, and promised he would do his best. He left a note for Noctis on the dining table and started up his truck in the morning.

He found the selkie's sister three weeks later, living with a man in a small town south of Hammerhead. He waited for days, watching them come and go, and when he was sure they'd be gone for a few hours at least, broke into their house. He found the skin under a loose tile in the bathroom, wedged between the pipes. 

They came home late. The man left the car first, grumbling about having to drag her around everywhere, and the selkie woman hung back, trying to steel herself enough to go inside. Gladio hissed at her, and she turned to find her pelt being tossed into the air. She caught it, and stared at Gladio in shock.

"Your sister sent me," Gladio said. "Hurry up, let's get you home."

The selkie grinned, teeth glinting in the headlights of Gladio's truck, and ran to him.

After that, Gladio would occasionally head out to the dock to find a selkie waiting for him. 

_My wife has been gone for thirty years, and I can't travel far._

_My brother went missing two months ago._

_My friend was out of my sight for an hour, I swear._

_Please, she must be so frightened._

_Please._

Gladio didn't always find their pelts himself. He recruited Iris, sometimes, and one or two trusted friends. Prompto Argentum, of all people, proved to have a sharp eye, and would call Gladio up to say that he thought this person might be one of them, could he come check? Gladio and Prompto would often approach selkies first, then distract their so-called husbands with a night at the bar--after which they'd rob him blind and leave him stranded several miles away while the selkie tore through the house in search of their skin. 

The house on Cape Caem gained a reputation for being safe, and selkies started to venture past the dock, sitting with Gladio in his kitchen or watching him work in the garden. While he'd been the strange consort to the King before, now he was starting to become something more. 

A few years later, he and Noct became uncles. 

Noct was an odd fixture in the Amicitia family's life. He wasn't always home when Iris and her children visited, and Gladio would explain his absence away as "Oh, you know, business." Then he'd appear in a rush of salt air, bearing gifts from Altissia and promises to teach Iris' eldest how to swim. The kids groaned and rolled their eyes at the disgusting pet names Gladio and Noct called each other, which got worse with each telling.

By the time the kids were grown, though, Gladio and Noct had settled for _my love._ And in the rare moments when they were alone, Gladio would kiss Noct's still-flawless hands and call him _Majesty._

When Gladio asked Noct about his own heirs, Noct would only tell him that it wasn't yet time.

"You'll know when I'm ready for it," he said, and kissed the disapproving scowl off Gladio's lips.

The years went on, and still Noct told him to wait. They took in a cat after all: A big, ugly fighter with a ragged ear and a missing eye, who tolerated Gladio and trailed after Noct with the surety of a cat who knew a dutiful servant when she saw one. Noctis called her Sophie, and on mornings when Gladio would meet Noct at the shore, she trotted eagerly at his heels.

The house, which had shifted in color and shine like a faulty television reception over time, saw its last full coat of paint. The dock creaked under Noctis’ bare feet as he emerged on his frequent visits, worn down with the carved names of their nieces and nephews and the teething marks of young selkies who were brought to meet the strange, trusted friend of their people. Gladio's hair went white, his hands less sure, and he passed on the task of seeking out lost selkies to a young woman who, like Ardyn, had a mother who ran off to sea. But unlike the man whose ashes lay in the wreckage of the Izunia home of Altissia, this woman turned the horror of her mother's captivity into a force for good. Selkies still went to Gladio for requests, though, and he became her unofficial source, a tipster for a new class of Hunters. 

It became harder for Gladio to head out to the dock and wait for Noctis alone. He refused to use a cane despite Iris’ advice, and could be seen slowly making his way down the steps he’d built himself over fifty years ago, the descendants of old Sophie prowling the bushes and twining around his shuffling feet. 

Then one morning, as Iris pulled up to the Cape with her grandchildren to deliver that week's groceries to the house on the cliff, the sea of Cape Caem stirred in a chaos of foam. From the rippling waves all along the shoreline, a great host of men and women emerged, turning their somber gazes to the house where Gladio lived. And in the center of them, striding forth like an old god of the sea, came Noctis. He climbed the stone steps towards the house, and as the dark-haired selkie passed through the doorway, Iris let out a dreadful cry and dropped her bags at her feet. Her grandchildren called after her as she staggered up the path, reaching for her arms to steady her as legs unused to running creaked and strained. Then Gladio appeared at the door with his lover's arm around his shoulders, and Iris stopped where she was, seeing something in those warm amber eyes that her children and grandchildren could never convince her to give voice to. 

She watched Gladio and Noctis descend the steps to the beach, and leaned against the stone marker beside the house as Gladio faced the lines of selkies waiting for him. Her grandchildren shouted their names into the thin sea air: _Gladio! Uncle Gladio! Uncle Noctis!_ but they did not turn to them. Gladio followed Noctis into the water, stopping waist-deep as Noctis raised a hand to the assembled men and women. A light pooled in the water as though from a long distance, and Noctis plunged his hand into the light and drew out a sheet of water that rippled and bent in the wind but did not lose its shape. The water shifted, twisted, grew darker and thinner in his hands, until he held the pelt of a seal. He held it out to Gladio, who took it with a bow.

As one, the selkies surrounding them turned to the sea, swirling their skins in the air about them. Iris gasped as they dove and leapt, their seal forms just as beautiful and unreal as the mortals they'd been a moment before. 

Gladio stood before the king of the selkies, holding a newly-made sealskin in his hands. 

"Gladio!" The high, keening cry that shivered in the air came from her own tongue, and Iris wondered for a second if she'd broken the spell that lay over the Cape, and her hands clenched on the stone. Gladio and Noct looked to her, then, and nodded. She tried to nod back, but what she truly wanted was to run to them, to grab Gladio by the arms and drag him back to the shore. 

She couldn't see it, but she knew that her brother was smiling at her, wide and free and slightly wicked. She laughed, catching the sound in her fist, and tasted the salt of tears.

Gladio and Noctis shook out their skins and disappeared beneath the crest of a wave.

Then they broke free again, two large, sleek creatures of grey and white, arcing over the water in a spray of foam that caught the sun like fire. It was but a moment before they were gone, nothing but shadows in the sea, racing off to the place where, for a time, their love could endure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done! Thanks to all of y'all who supported this in its first incarnation on the kinkmeme, and those of you who read along here! I have to admit that this fic was a fantastic experience to write: I let it take over my life for a time!


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